IWRG 3/4/10

IWRG on Segunda Caida

http://www.youtube.com/user/tvluchadelpasado

Alan Extreme/Samot vs Heros/Brazo Metalico Jr.

TKG: They do a 1980's All Japan brawling on the floor double-countout finish in an all rookies opener!!! IWRG booking can be awesomely ridiculous! Heros and Alan Extreme tried to do a slower more deliberate version of their opening technical fall and it didn’t really work. Slow and deliberate technical exchanges require more struggling for holds, more selling and less appearance of cooperation. They pick up speed later and you don’t notice the cooperation as much. As per usual Heros is the star of the rudos isolate and double team tecnicos section. That said, I thought Brazo Metalico Jr really had a stand out performance here. Samot is a pudgy guy who will bump for anyone and anything. But Metalico worked a match opposite him that made a ton of sense given the size difference. Samot is a guy who will eat an Irish whip or a suplex from anyone but Brazo Metalico Jr. isn’t going to do that. I imagine Brazo has had plenty of experience at family picnics where relatives get drunk and challenge him to a fight. He knows what works. The first fall he works a speed and leverage game opposite Samot’s size and it’s super entertaining. At one point Samot aims his clothesline too high and the Jr Brazo does a really neat cover where he sells as though his eyes were grazed. Brazo Metalico Jr also gets ridiculous hang time on his tope where it feels like he is suspended in the air. In the third fall street fight section Brazo Metalico does deadlift Samot and whip him into post, but he pulls it off in a way where you totally buy Brazo Metalico Jr as being super fired up and angry and buy Samot as super worn down by the match.

PAS: Pretty strange to see a Brazo work as fast highflyer against agile bumping fat man. I wonder if Samot is an illegitimate cousin or something and that is why they work so well together. It could be that he is just super excited to work an Alverado, the way I imagine your current batch of Mid-Atlantic indy wrestlers get really amped up to wrestle David Flair. Samot was just great in this, his eating of Metalico's tope was just nuts for such a big dude, and I loved the impact of his top rope splash. Heros v. Alan Extreme wasn't as good as has been in the past, but these guys work each other enough that a 70% version of their match is going to work fine. Match of the show, which doesn't mean as much on this day as it would on another day.

Hijo del Diablo/Hijo del Signo/Maldito Jr. vs Eragon/Freelance/Zatura

TKG: They do a 1980’s NWA over the top rope DQ finish!!!! IWRG booking can be awesomely ridiculous! IWRG booking can also just be out and out bizarre. I’ve mentioned before that IWRG have a bunch of really cool rudo stables while the tecnicos are often just mixed into trios randomly. Here the rudos are guys from three different stables mixed together randomly. Maldito Jr normally is partnered with Samot and is one third of Ola Maldita. Hijo Del Diablo is one third of the Gringos Locos VIP who have been feuding with Black Terry and Dr Cerebro on the Sunday shows. El Hijo del Signo has been teaming with Black Terry and Cerebro (and seconds Cerebro later) on the Thursday shows where they feud with Pantera and son. I mean it isn’t that the Sunday and Thursday shows are running in different towns (Evansville and Memphis or somesuch). But they are in the same arena. Hijo del Signo and Eragon have been married in ring for too long, and this was one of their lesser Tim Horner v Terry Taylor technical Georgia wrestling exchanges. They need to start working other people. On the other end, Zatura v Maldito Jr ‘s opening section was a blast. Zatura has a whole bunch of different ways to figure four an opponent’s legs (grabbing the leg and nastily leaping it into position, forcing with his arms, as part of a ceiling hold, etc) while Maldito Jr tries to respond with a series of heavy roll ups. Maldito Jr isn’t Samot and kind of struggles at eating the faster exchanges. But he’s fun on offense and that opening section earns him some points. I left this wanting to see Zatura, Brazo Metlaico Jr v Samot/Maldito Jr match.

PAS: I really liked Maldito Jr. in this, I thought his opening matwork against Zatura was some of the most interesting matwork we have seen in IWRG this year. Not as technically crisp as your Navarro v. Solar, but the technique was pretty cool, and I loved how Maldito used his size to counter and dominate holds. He also worked really well with Freelance, in a real Mike Knox v. Rey, speed v. power match up. I agree with Tom about the underwhelming nature of the Eragon v. Signo match up, and for a guy who is having such a big year, Diablo did nothing here. More a match with cool moments, then an actual good match.

Hijo Del Pantera v. Dr. Cerebro

TKG: I was super dreading this match up. Hijo del Pantera really brings very little to the table at this point and had no idea how you can work a title match around him. He doesn’t work the mat or sell or do any technical exchanges well and his dives are hit and miss. I mean you’d need at least 3 Ephesto v Sombra dangerous headbumps before I buy him. Hijo del Pantera is a guy who just never comes across as credible. They actually worked a pretty smart match around hiding that fault. As on some level this really came off like a really smart lucha version of Sam Houston v Flair or Scorpio v Windham type of match (Guy out of his league putting in a noble effort against an A1 guy). Not a real accurate description as Sam Houston and Scorpio are both more credible than Hijo Del Pantera. Maybe Genius v Hogan is better comparison. But that has the whole face/heel structure different. This is a surprisingly dramatic match built around non credible guy trying to get moral victory of one pinfall and lasting in ring for a while. Hijo del Pantera knowing outmatched goes after Dr Cerebro before Cerebro can even get in the ring (hitting Cerebro with two quick dives a throw on the floor and a 2nd rope moonsault) for a quick flash pin. Cerebro looks at the ref with a “what the fuck is this shit” look and reminds the ref “Hey man this is supposed to be a Championship match”. Second fall starts with Cerebro still selling wind and reluctantly playing along with Hijo’s fast exchange gameplan. When Cerebro wins this with submission with thumbs pointed to himself you know the inevitable end of this match. Cerebro can beat Hijo del Pantera at his own game, it’s jut a question of how long Hijo del Pantera can hang on. And the third fall is just Hijo del Pantera throwing out all his dropkicks and dives trying to hold it off as long as he can, until Cerebro dispatches him with Fujiwara armbar into Cerebro driver.

PAS: The structure of this was pretty cool, but Pantera real didn't deliver his part of the match. I liked the idea of him jumping Cerebro at the bell and hitting topes, but the topes sucked and I just didn't buy any of his offense breaking an egg. I liked the finish a lot, and if Cerebro had worked the same match move for move with Heros or Pelle Primaeu I could see liking it, but the execution was too ass for this type of match. I am not sure what else Cerebro could have tried, but this wasn't it.

Barba Roja Jr./Trauma I/Trauma II v. Pantera/Angelico/Angel

TKG: Maaaaaan, Pantera tries, but he can’t save this ass tecnico team. He has a nice section where he gets beat on by Trauma I in first fall and does two different types of topes in next two falls, eats triple teams well and has a fun tecnico chases and delivers belt shots to rudos section. But then there are the other two tecnicos. And unfortunately Pantera is being booked as a backup character in an Angelico centered match. I was kind of hoping for Pantera to come after Trauma I for the hair loss. Instead we get Trauma I wanting Angelico’s belt and those two pairing off. They do some really nice “two guys who trained together” standing technical exchanges and then Trauma I does an impressive job of selling/eating Angelico’s laughable goofball quick stuff. And then thankfully Truama gets to work with Pantera a bit. Unfortunately he has to work Angelico again and gets hurt.

PAS: The first couple of minutes of this match were pretty entertaining, as Trauma I is really great at working around Angelico's horseshit. His fake Alex Shelly stuff is awful when it is attempted against anyone without Navarro blood coursing through their veins, but Trauma I kind of makes it work. Match falls completely and utterly apart when Trauma I gets hurt, and I am happy that Angelico headed back to Pretoria before he could hurt more good wrestlers.